Life is hard, love is harder
by Girlofgreys
Summary: Sanosuke has a huge hangover. When he goes to the market, he runs into a strange boy.... This is my first fic, so R&R but be nice. non yaoi. Sorry.
1. Chapter 1

No, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. I wish I did, but I don't, so don't ask and don't sue. I don't have any money anyway.

**The hangover**

Sanosuke woke up hung over. 'Damn,' he thought, 'why'd I drink so much?' He thought through a pounding headache back to last night. 'Oh yeah, a bachelor party for my friend. Well, no one's sleeping next to me so it's okay,' he reasoned. He took a look around the room. 'At least I passed out at Kaoru's.' He got up and went outside.

"Yahiko! You brat! Get back here!" Kaoru yelled while chasing Yahiko with a bokken.

"Just try and catch me 'busu'!" Yahiko yelled back.

"OI!" yelled Sano. "I've got a hangover, so if you wouldn't mind keepin' it down a little..." Kaoru and Yahiko stopped in their tracks, just noticing Sanosuke was there.

"Well maybe you shouldn't party so often! If you get hungover then just don't drink!" Kaoru scolded turning her anger on Sano.

"I'm leaving." Sano said, not wanting his headache to get worse. He might as well see if a friend had another inking for sale, so he made his way to the market.

Kenshin was down another road, happily running errands for Kaoru.

Sanosuke went through the crowded market place with ease. No one even pretended not to be afraid of him anymore. Sano smiled as he walked down the road. He turned to the shop with his friend's paintings. He was shopping with no intentions of buying, as usual. The storekeepers knew this too, but were in no hurry to rush him out for paying costumers. A few new pictures were there, but nothing special… A young black haired boy bumped into Sano. "Sorry," he mumbled, but was caught by the wrist of a very pissed off Sanosuke.

"Hey! That's mine, you know," he said eyeing the wallet in the boy's hand. The 16-year-old boy, however, didn't seem to hear him, struggled free, and ran off. Sano cursed under his breath and took off after him.

Kenshin was done with the errands and was walking home cheerfully. He stopped suddenly to let a boy run by. 'That was close' he thought. He took another step and was run over by a very pissed, hungover Sanosuke. "Orororo".

'Almost got him. He's fast, but I'll catch him before the bridge,' thought Sano. He leapt out into the air and tackled the thief from behind. "AH!" he heard the boy cry out in surprise. He held the boy around the chest and waist so he couldn't get away. Then he felt it. 'Wait… guys aren't squishy on the chest…' That thought was followed by a hard and well-deserved smack. He held the kid by the wrist about arm's length from him, looked at her, and decided he would deal with that later. "You know… there's nothing in that wallet, so you can drop it. Besides, even if you are a girl, I've got a hangover, so who knows what I'll do. I'm very pissed off right now." She did as she was told, and the instant she dropped it she was dropped herself.

"So," the young teen said, "you gonna turn me in or what?"

"Why would I do that? What good will come from it? Besides I want to hear your story," Sano said calmly. The girl eyed him carefully. "Come on. You have to be desperate to steal something from a guy with an 'aku' on his back," he explained.

With a deep sigh, she said, "Well, if you must know… My name is Meriko. I'm stealing because I need the money to pay the doctors."

"You're sick? You seem healthy to me," Sano said in a confused tone.

"Not me, you dolt. My little sister! Well... sorta. She's not really my sister, but I've taken care of her for so long, I feel like we're sisters. Anyway, if you aren't going to turn me in, I'll be on my way." Meriko got up to leave.

"Where is she?" he asked. She stopped in her tracks.

"Why do you care?" she snapped back.

"Because I can help you with your problem. I just need you to bring me to her." She eyed him suspiciously. "I ain't gonna hurt you or your sister. Do you want to save her or not?" This didn't seem to comfort her, but her expression softened.

"Follow me," she said as she started down the road.

'Damn,' Sano thought as he walked after her, 'this has already been a long day, and I haven't been up for an hour! Goddamn hangover…'

It only took an hour to get to the Meriko's house…if you could call it that. It was very run-down, and looked like it would collapse at any moment. "Here it is," Meriko said. Sano noted she didn't seem ashamed of the house. They went inside and it didn't look any better. It looked like it was as clean as possible, but there was no hope to restore it to the house it had been before. It was a one-room house, and the only part that didn't look like it leaked from the roof was a small bed where a small girl lay shivering in the hot summer air. Every now and then, she would cough.

"I'll have to carry her back to town," Sanosuke said as he moved towards the bed. Meriko jumped at this.

"You're taking her to a doctor! I told you, I can't afford it!" she said as she moved in front of him.

Sano rolled his eyes and pushed her out of the way. "Look Jo-chan, I know what I'm doin' okay? I'm hungover, so no more yelling."

The entire way back was walked in silence except for the small girl in Sano's arms, who would cough occasionally. They made it back to town and went straight to Megumi's clinic. "OI! Megumi! Get over here!" Sano yelled pushing the door open with his foot.

"This is a hospital!" Megumi said in a hushed tone as she turned the corner. "No yell-," she noticed the bundle in Sanosuke's arms. "What's wrong?" she asked as she led them into the nearest room and set her down.

"We were hoping you could tell us that," Sanosuke said, and then explained the story.

"Hmm…" Megumi said, "Both of you leave the room. I need to work on this without distractions."

Both of them left the room and sat down. There was a long silence. Then Sano said, "So… What's your story? Do you want to share it?"

"I don't mind, but it's not something I'm proud of," she said looking off into space. "It started," she began, "on the day I found my sister, Miki…"

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So, did you like it? I know it sounds like Yahiko's story, but bear with me! Please? It gets better. It's my first fan-fic, so be kind when you R&R. … You are going to R&R, right? Right?

Special thanx to my sister. My own personal beta-reader. Thank you Tory! She also goes by Sylvia Viridian online, and has fics posted on the site, so go read them! Or I'll sic Sano on you… D

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	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. If I did, I would have money. But I don't so don't ask.

**Meriko's story**

Four years ago a girl was walking down a muddy road during a rainstorm. She wasn't in any hurry because she had nowhere to go. Her parents were caught in some sort of smuggling thing. She didn't know much about it because when she first heard of it, they were being killed. She managed to escape, but it was years ago. She was used to living on the streets. Her hair was in a very messy ponytail that almost went down to her waist. She was wandering down the road when she saw a young girl coming toward her. She looked lost, scared and confused. Meriko went over to help her. "Are you lost? I can help you find your parents." Meriko offered.

"I don't have any parents. They are dead. I don't have anywhere to go." the little girl said. She looked close to tears.

"Here, you can stay with me. I don't have anything, but I'll find a way to support us both. My name is Meriko. What's yours?" Meriko offered her hand.

"Kotara." said the little girl. They walked down the street hand in hand looking for a place to stay.

Meriko woke up the next morning. She found in her arms the young girl from before. She looked comfortable, but Meriko had to wake her up. The root of the tree they slept under was digging into her back. Slowly, Meriko shifted as to not wake the child. It was not yet 7:00 a.m. she guessed by the sun. 'Kotara won't be up for a few more hours if I just let her rest.' Meriko tucked the girl under the blanket and set off. She had seen a dojo earlier. She had always wanted to learn martial arts; the problem was that there was a sign out front that said it didn't accept girls. She pulled out her small knife she carried with her and cut her hair. Messy, but at least she now looked the part. She was already wearing boy's clothes because they were more practical than a kimono. Now she just needed to hide her blossoming chest. She found some scrap cloth in the trash and wrapped it tight around herself. She looked at herself in a window on the way by. She stared at herself for a while and silently wished herself luck.

As Meriko went up to the dojo, she saw a young boy about her age doing chores. It looked like he was doing some hard work, and it was so early in the morning. 'You can do this Meriko.' She walked up to the boy and, in a disguised voice, said, "Can I speak to the man in charge?"

The boy rushed inside and came out with another man. He was tall, slender, with long black hair in a ponytail. Meriko hoped he didn't see her blush. "You called for me?" he said in a smoothing tone.

"I-I would like to train at this dojo. I also have a little sis to take care of. I was wondering if I could bring her too." she said this too fast, but it wasn't unusual for even guys in her position to be nervous.

He gave her a warm smile, "Of course you may stay here. And your sister too. May I ask your name?"

'Aw crap! I need a guys name! Think! Think! THINK!'. "Um, my n-name is…Kuroda Taiki." She thanked the author for getting her out of that situation. She then forgot what she was thinking about.

"Taiki, huh? Well then Taiki, welcome to the Akimoto Dojo. I'm Takumi Akimoto. It is a pleasure to meet you. You will begin training tomorrow. In the mean time, get your sister and anything else you want and I will show you around." He said in a commanding voice. 'Taiki' ran off to get her 'sister'. She couldn't believe her luck. It wouldn't, however, last for long.

Meriko was a hard worker and never caused any trouble while she was there. She learned basic moves quickly and moved on to the advanced class. Everything was looking up until one day…

'I can't wait to see what we do today.' Meriko thought happily, as she dressed. 'These bandages around the chest a tight though… I'll just take them off for a second…' Just then, the door opened and Takumi came in.

"Morning! Ready for anoth-…" he stopped mid sentence when he looked at her. There was an awkward silence while Meriko was covering up. "Come with me." he said after a short while.

She felt numb. How could she have been so stupid! She walked down the hallway to the front gate. Her sister was there. "I can't take you. I'm sorry." the instructor said solemly.

"B-but why not? You're such a nice guy, I can't belive you're sexist! I've proven myself more than some of the guys in there!" the teen shouted at him.

"Yes, you are very good. However, you do lack something. You lack honesty. You didn't even try to talk to me to work something out. I do want to train girls as well as boys, but the towns folk made me put that sign up. We could have worked something out if you had been honest. I'm sorry, but I have to let you go."

Meriko left and tried to work odd jobs until the only way for Kotara and her to eat was to pick pocket.

A breeze blew past as Sanosuke and Meriko waited outside the hospital. "It seems you've had it pretty rough kid." The former thug said after a long silence. "You are really strong too. In fact, that Takumi guy made a mistake in letting you go."

"That maybe, but that doesn't change my current situation. Kotara will probably be here for a while longer, but I need a place to stay. And after Kotara gets out, the place we were before isn't suitable for a kid who's recovering from an illness. I'm sorry but I've got to go find somewhere…" the young girl got up to leave.

"Where are you goin' Jou-chan?" Sano asked calmly.

"I told you. Are you deaf?" Meriko retorted back.

"Come on. After what you've been through, you don't need those responsibilities on your shoulders. I'm sure Kaoru won't mind if you and your sis stay with us." He said coolly.

"I-i-i… I usually don't accept help. But I don't have much of a choice do I?" She said uncertainly.

"It'll be fine. I'll tell the doc. what's up and we can head for your new home." Sano said as he got up.

'A new home', Meriko thought, 'I like the sound of that.'

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So, how'd you like it? It's not that good I know, but it's my first! R&R PLEASE! The only one's who have R&R'd are people I know… TT So R&R!

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